Doc, Eileen:
Congrats on the creation of another Crack addict... I hope that you're all properly proud of yourselves! (
And thanks for the Hershey's kisses, Eileen - I know that they were a "holiday bonus", but you might consider adding them to the parts manifest as a permanent item.)
But seriously: this amp was a joy to build and the sound quality is simply
amazing astonishing. The noise floor is so very low that I was stunned by the entrance of the first notes I heard, and the control that the Crack's output tube maintains over my HD-600s driver elements is phenomenal. And all of this on a fresh-build with only a few minutes of warm-up! I had no idea of the bass response of these headphones until I plugged them into the Crack. Listening to this machine over the last few days, I can hear the circuit maturing nicely. I have to ask myself - can the Speedball C4S make a difference at all? How can it be any quieter? How can it be any faster?
You folks are clearly masters of valve circuit design, because only a true Jedi could achieve this mix of simplicity and performance... I remember my early Heathkits - over 30 years ago - the Crack is a order of magnitude more elegant in design and attainment. Now I can safely invest in an upgrade cable for my Senn HD-600s...
or maybe I'll just make one? You have clearly re-ignited a DIY urge here!I'm hardly a "golden ear", but as an engineer and the owner of McIntosh, Ray Samuels, and other fine audio equipment, I think that I'm qualified to state that this little headphone amp clearly drives the price/performance curve asymptotic. There is little or no comparison in terms of affordable performance. Thank you; you have a friend and an advocate for life, in me.
And it was fun to build, too! (and it totally makes me laugh to type this, but...) see photos of my Crack at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dstrimbu/sets/72157625755388934/ :-)
Cheers and thanks,
-Don Strimbu
